10 Day Thought Provocation Challenge

Via http://yourchallenges.tumblr.com/

[Day 01]: Is revenge sometimes justified?
[Day 02]: What is the difference between existence and essence?
[Day 03]: Which is a stronger emotion - anger or love?
[Day 04]: Can insanity bring on more creativity?
[Day 05]: Why does religion bring about so much war?
[Day 06]: Give your 20 favorite songs - why do you like each one?
[Day 07]: Why do we say “I’m sorry” when a person passes away? What exactly are we sorry for?
[Day 08]: At what point are we ‘good enough?’
[Day 09]: Why was is that in a lot of different cultures the men always used to come first and never the women?
[Day 10]: Do you see to believe or believe to see?

I will do this once a week. I realized that lately I haven't posted anything very serious, this challenge will be like a prompt.

Outfit of the week

Why, the outfit I wore to the poetry slam but of course. I wore my jean jacket and wrapped my hair. I title this look "Funky for you"

Now let me fully break down this outfit. The yellow top is actually a short strapless dress, which my best friend gave me, tucked into and slightly hanging over my skort. The skort is from nautica. The bag is dooney and burke, and the sneakers are my favorite pair of converses. You already know the story behind the jacket. And the necklace, is a small robot necklace from forever 21. The reason why i tile this look "funky for you" is beacuse I think it is very funky, if you know what I mean. Also that is the title of one of my favorite songs by the rapper Common.:

I hope I've inspired you and your looks !

V is for Poetry launch event !

I've posted about the organization here in NYC called V is for poetry. This organization is a group that uplifts the image of a strong and virtuous woman. You can find out more on http://visforpoetry.blogspot.com/. This evening was the first spoken word event at The Nuyorican Poets Cafe. The event was a success. The cafe was filled and the poets were amazing. Here are a few photos I took:

The woman in charge, Megan Felix

My performance... was alright. Lol. Well see for yourself:

How to "pimp-out" your jean jacket !

   About three years ago I got a cropped denim jacket. I wore it all the time, it was cute and went with everything. Last year I noticed a lot of people wearing denim vests so i decided to cut the sleeves off my jacket.

before

after

I kept it like this and would also add buttons to it. Last week I thought my vest need more, so I bleached it.

You can bleach your denim jacket too just do what I did :

What you need:

• Towel/old blanket
• Clorox bleach
• A bowl/container of some sort
• A paint brush

Steps:

• Lay the towel or old blanket onto the floor
• Place jacket on said blanket
• Pour a small amount of bleach into your container
• Dip paint brush into bleach and splatter bleach on your jacket

Splatter as much as you want. you can also hold the brush over the jacket & let the bleach drip off onto your jacket

and now... The final result

As I said, I like to add buttons to my jacket. Over the past year I've acquired 8 of them. I have an Urban Word button(which is a poetry organization here in NYC), Three Michael Jackson buttons(which I got from tables in union Square park), A Tumblr reblog button button, an OMGosh button(which I got at Gay Pride), and 4 limited edition Lady GaGa Born This Way buttons( which I bought from this site)

I hope I've inspired you ! 

Saying "If that makes sense" following a statement, simply prolongs the non-sensical-ness of your statement. . .If that makes sense.

The 90's are back !

On Nickelodeon that is. A night-time block for the young adults who grew up on 90's Nickelodeon started on Nickelodeon's sister channel TeenNick(mad especially for teenagers) two days ago.





   Each of these shows represent my childhood. Even the shows my mother didn't allow me to watch. I'm 18 years old, and this is the age where you start to "feel old". For instance, i have two  younger siblings who are 5 and 7 years younger than I am. When i'm talking to them and I bring up shows from the 90's they look at me in confusion, then I have to remember that they're too young to remember that stuff. Another example is that the channel Boomerang, which title goes with the fitting slogan "it's all coming back to you", plays old cartoons  Cartoons from as far back as the 1970's. Recently they started playing "The powerpuff girls" which was one of my favorite cartoons growing up, in the 90's.
  What I thought about the most, is how things have changed. I seen so many things that now these shows seem weird to me. When I was 6 I didn't question why everyone on "Doug" was a different color, or why Clarissa' next door neighbor who was a boy could come into her bedroom whenever he felt like it, or where/who the hell was Kel's family. That stuff didn't matter, nor did I know to question things. i was a kid. all that mattered was that I laughed. Now-a-days television shows for kids are horrible. they all have unrealistic story line. Back in the day shows didn't need a silly gimic like a girl leading a double life as a pop star, or a girl with a web show, or kids who are ninja, or super gifted and talented kids. they were just shows about kid like us living their lives, and it worked.

All natural for the summer part 5 !

I decided to wrap my hair :)

The Ed Hardy scarf

The Boondocks Season 4

  Now if you are unfamiliar with "The Boondocks". It is an animated series created by Aaron McGruder on Cartoon Network's late night program block, Adult Swim, based on McGruder's Newspaper-comic strip. The Boondocks represents "African American culture and race relations" revolving around the lives of the Freeman family: ten-year-old Huey, his younger brother, Riley, and their grandfather, Robert. The series finished airing its third and rumored, to be final, season on Adult Swim. But In a 2011 interview, cast member, John Witherspoon announced that the series has been renewed for a fourth season, which will consist of 20 episodes.

   Before season 3 of "The Boondocks" aired on Adult Swim, there were notices that it would be the cartoon's swan song. And with over-the-top episodes like "The Booty Warrior" and "Pause", which lampooned Tyler Perry, it seemed that show creator, Aaron McGruder, was taking no prisoners since he presumably wasn't coming back. But fear not, it surely is:



I am very excited about this. The Boondocks is a hilarious show. I have 3 episodes on my ipod ! If You haven't watched, I urge you to. With that I leave you, the ever so popular end credit theme song.

Graphic!

   Now, A few months ago I decided to start posting a new photo that I've edited myself each week. I like editing pictures and thought it'd be cool to share that with you guys. The problem is that I haven't edited any photos lately, so I "discontinued" it. But today I edited this photo and I need to post it

I love Rihanna. This is photo of her on tour for her latest album Loud. I found the photo on FuckyeahRihanna.Com. Which is one of the biggest and best Rihanna blogs out there.

R.I.P. Amy Winehouse

  Yesterday, July 23rd 2011, Soul/Jazz songstress Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London home.Winehouse shot to fame with the album "Back to Black," whose blend of jazz, soul, rock and classic pop was a global hit. It won five Grammys and made Winehouse — with her black beehive hairdo and old-fashioned sailor tattoos — one of music's most recognizable stars.
  A press release from the Metropolitan Police, which doesn't specifically name Winehouse, says:

"Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square NW1 shortly before 16.05hrs today, Saturday 23 July, following reports of a woman found deceased.
On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Enquiries continue into the circumstances of the death. At this early stage it is being treated as unexplained."

  The cause of death has yet to be confirmed but I'm sure we can all figure it out. The singers battle with drug and alcohol addiction almost took the front stage to her talent. The singer recently canceled a concert tour after being intoxicated on stage during one performance. She was always on the news for seeming drunk or high.
  Personally I am very saddened by this tragedy. It’s hard to explain. I just can’t believe it. I was on my way to my family reunion when I saw people posting about it on twitter. So I googled, and it was confirmed. I was just confused. Like when you go somewhere just to see that the place is closed and you think “Now what”. We can always say that she brought it upon herself, and that she was heading down the wrong way but she was gone too soon. I’m just sad about it or disheartened rather. At the age of 27, no one should have had to go though that battles she's had within herself. I just really hope she could've gotten help. Clearly she didn't. In her first single rehab she proudly states "They tried to make me go to rehab, I said no no no". Of course I do not know what went on in Amy's personal life, I do not know why she turned to drugs and alcohol, nor do I know if she was trying to get clean or not. I do know that this is certainly a tragedy and she will be missed.
With that I leave you "Rehab":

All natural for the summer part 4 !

Now allow me to get ready....



  As I've mentioned I bought Aussie "Catch the wave" Leave-in conditioner and mousse. That conditioner left my hair so shrunken and tight! The only choice I have is to wash it out and blow dry my hair. The problem is that two weeks ago I got my braids taken out and my hair washed and blow dryed. It hurt very badly and my head still hurts from it! Right now I'm scared to do anything to my hair.

   The descripition of the product says "Create curls or waves that stay smooth and shaped throughout the day with Catch the Wave Mousse + Leave-In Conditioner, kissed with Kangaroo Paw Flower, Peppermint and Wild Cherry Bark." Clearly this product was not made for black hair. You see the effect on white hair in the commercials and now you see the effect on black hair. Everyone's hair is different so be careful buying products. As you can see, I wasn't and I didn't get the hair I imagined. Whether you want to use this product is solely up to you.

Quote

I just want to be free, I just want to be me And I want lots of friends that invite me to their parties. I don’t want to change, and I don’t want to be ashamed. I’m the spirit of my Hair, it’s all the glory that I bare.
                                                                                            Hair- Lady GaGa

   As you know, My focus this summer is my hair. You can see here. I feel that hair is a Woman's glory, well its everyone's glory. Hair is one of the purest ways of expression being that it is on your head. What you do to your hair, at a certain point, is your decision and represents who you are. Earlier I was thinking "Am I my hair or am I not my hair". I feel that I am but a few years ago, India Arie had a song called I am not my hair:




 The song describes all the hair changes she has gone through in her life, being a black woman. A lot of people can identify with this(including me). She says "I am not my hair, i am not this skin, I am not your expectations.... I am the soul that lives within. But the saying "I am not my hair" seemingly contradicts with GaGa's "I am my hair". How I see it is even if my hair is the first thing you see, it does not define who a person is. My hair represents me and is apart of me but doesn't solely show who I am as a person. I personally do not judge anyone based on their hair so I am not sure what judgments can come from hairstyles. However, whilst scrolling on the blog "Black Girl Problems" I saw a post which said "Because you're natural(hair) everyone assumes that you're a soul sister who loves Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu." I found this very funny being that I am natural and I love both of those women. Basically you can do whatever you want to your hair and should not be judged based on it.

3rd week of July and I have yet to post an outfit!

Well here it is :)

   As you know, on Saturday I went to The Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit “Savage Beauty”. I knew I had to wear something stylish, comfortable, and suitable for the weather. Therefore I went with this look. A simple romper with good accessories. I’m wearing my favorite shoes, my silver lace-up oxfords; an owl necklace, a fedora, and one of my vintage coach bags. I can’t forget the feather earrings, which, I feel, are a very nice touch.

You can see the look and more of my outfits on my fashion photo blog http://www.chictopia.com/Kearmonie

I must warn you all, this video has a lot of profanity

but I fully agree with it. You see there's this new trend called planking. Well Kingsley explains it:

"Act like a lady, Think like a man" The movie!

   Yes, yes. A movie adaptation of comedian, Steve Harvey's best selling book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment is in the works.

   Steve Harvey, the host of the nationally syndicated Steve Harvey Morning Show, can't count the number of impressive women he's met over the years. These are women who can run a small business, keep a household with three kids in tiptop shape, and chair a church group all at the same time. Yet when it comes to relationships, they can't figure out what makes men tick. Why? According to Steve it's because they're asking other women for advice when no one but another man can tell them how to find and keep a man. In Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, Steve lets women inside the mindset of a man and sheds lights on concepts and questions. Sometimes funny, sometimes direct, but always truthful, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man is a book you must read if you want to understand how men think when it comes to relationships.

  Now for the movie. If you watch BET you may be both excited and disappointed to hear about the cast. Excited because the film will be starring people who we all know and love but disappointed because based on the cast this films seems to be bound to be a flop. A typical black movies that gets little to no recognition when it counts. The type of movie that goes to DVD months after its release in theaters and that is played on BET on almost every other Sunday afternoon. Yes I believe it will be hit, simply because its based on the best selling novel. But will it snag any Oscar nominations? Probably not. The "actor" getting the most buzz for this film is Chris Brown. Although I do not consider him an actor, Chris has been in a few films and had a role on the TV drama "The O.C." Chris joins Michael Ealy, Meagan Good, Taraji P. Henson, Gabrielle Union, Lala Vasquez and 106 and Park's Terrence J.

  'Think like a Man' follows what happens to four men after the women in their lives buy a copy of Steve Harvey's best selling book 'Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man' and follow Steve's advice. This shall be good. I am looking forward to the film, but I will not see it in theaters. I feel it's not worth paying but it is worth watching. But hey, that's my opinion.

All natural for the summer part 3 !

I urge everyone to braid their hair. I mean, I run a whole blog dedicated to braids (http://iloveboxbraids.tumblr.com/). As you already know I'm going all out for the summer. Giving my hair a break from extensions. In this video, I explain what I'm doing with my hair and why. i also talk about how important braiding your hair, vs. relaxing it, is.

I asked my mother to braid up my hair so it can be wavy when I un-braid it:

Alexander McQueen, Savage Beauty at The Met

I went ! 

    Today I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the highly anticipated Alexander McQueen exhibit “Savage Beauty”. Which I posted about a few months ago, here. We were not allowed to take photos of the exhibit at all, so the following images from the exhibit are not mine. It was amazing. The pieces were beautiful. Besides the amazing clothing, there were quotes McQueen said himself written on the walls. One of which read "There's no way back for me now....I am going to take you on journeys you've never dreamed were possible". Which is exactly what he did. I recognized a few pieces, thanks to mother monster Lady GaGa. But others left me in awe. They were all so beautiful.

We are all familiar the shoes. The shoes The shoes The shoes!


They were all there. Here are a few outfits which stood out to me the most:


 All of the pieces were amazing but I immediately fell in love with this dress. It is so beautiful, I was speechless looking at it. I can't explain how beautiful I think it is. I imagined this dress being something I'd wear for my wedding, someday.

 This garment reminded me of Lady GaGa's 2010 VMA's Red Carpet outfit. 

Speaking of Lady GaGa, An outfit that stood out to me the most was this one

    Solely because this is the exact outfit Lady GaGa wore in the Bad Romance video. I recognized it right away. You can only imagine how excited I was.

   Overall the first word that comes to mind when I think "Savage Beauty" is Amazing. It was, well more than amazing. I feel that I am blessed to have experienced this. I loved every part of it and never wanted to leave. Alexander McQueen has redefined fashion, and most of all Art. If you have not gone to see this exhibit I highly suggest you do ASAP. "Savage Beauty" ends August 7th, so hurry !

   What wasn't so great, however, was the wait. When you walk up the big staircase into The Met there was immediately a line for the exhibit. We waited for about an hour and a half. Besides being able to see the exhibit itself another plus was that we saw other art work while waiting on line, The line was very long :

   But as I said I highly recommend you go to The Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty before August 7th !! If you haven't already.

Have you visited my Box Braid blog lately?

http://iloveboxbraids.tumblr.com/
    I can say "Business is booming". This blog is getting a lot of attention in the tumblr world. Running I LOVE Box Braids is very fulfilling, and makes me very happy. As I said in my first post about this blog there are no blogs simply dedicated to Box Braids. The african hair braiding style or other styles similar to it. My blog gets submissions and questions everyday. Bloggers ask me questions about braids and even I learn more. I've discovered styles I've never heard of before and I am inspired everyday by my own blog. One style I learned about through running this blog is Yarn Braids. They are exactly like Box braids except with yarn instead of hair. Yes, YARN. as seen in this photo:


sweet-exhaustion.tumblr.com 



This is the style I want for my birthday, the end of October, throughout the winter.

senegalese twists

  Another thing I've learned is that Box Braids are making a huge comeback. I created my blog at the perfect time. Women are going natiural and may not want to wear afros everyday or style their hair every morning. Also no one wants to use any chemicals or heat that can damge their hair anymore. Box Braids are the perfect protective style for all hair textures. Braids are cute and work for all occasions. And most of all braids are Versatile.

 





senegalese twists



yarn braids



Box braids

All the photos seen here are submissions to the blog and can be seen (along with many more) at 

http://iloveboxbraids.tumblr.com/tagged/submission. Please check out the blog and enjoy. I hope I can inspire you. :).

Paws up little monsters. For The "Born this way Ball"

  As I've posted about here, pop star Lady GaGa's latest album is entitled "Born this Way". Most recently she announced the born this way tour set to kick off in 2012 called the Born This Way ball. Gaga recently wrapped her two-year-long Monster Ball tour and she’s already has plans for this new tour. In fact, she practically has the Born This Way Ball all mapped out and all she had to do now is put it together, or at least that’s what she told her little monsters on Twitter during an impromptu Q&A with her followers.
  “BTWBall dates announced soon, and I know EXACTLY what I want it to look and feel like down to every detail. Time to build,” Gaga tweeted one monster. The news didn't stop there, Gaga revealed a few of the countries the tour is confirmed to hit. In another tweet: “Lots of tweets about the BTWBall. It will travel worldwide. Including INDONESIA ( I see you monsters!), all over Latin America, and India!” Fans of Born This Way standout “Heavy Metal Lover” will be happy to know Gaga plans on performing the song at the BTWBall.Gaga also confirmed classics like “Poker Face,” “Just Dance,” “Paparazzi,” “Dance In The Dark,” and “Love Game” will also be on the set list. Also Lady Gaga is releasing a new single from the born this way album and video very soon.
  Lady GaGa was rated as the biggest star of the year according to a Billboard over an evaluation of seven buckets. Hundreds and thousands voters gave Gaga the Best Style Vote and high rankings in other categories. You can follow her Tumblr blog where she continues to post exclusive fashion photos for her little monsters here.
  As you should know, I am a huge Lady GaGa fan and I am very happy about this tour and just proud of GaGa in general.

image courtesy of  http://amenfashion.tumblr.com/

Article courtesy of: http://neonlimelight.com/